AbimbolA Kunle-osunKunle

abimbola Kunle-osunkunle, banker turned jewelry designer is the Founder and Creative director of Cornucopia, they make finely handcrafted jewelry with gemstones, fresh water pearls. Bimbo is a B.sc economics graduate from the University of ibadan and has a Certificate in enterpreneurial Management from the enterprise development Centre (edC) of the Pan-atlantic University, an accredited Jewelry Professional (aJP) certified by the Gemological institute of america (Gia) and also an alumnus of the China europe international Business school (CeiBs) and an associate Member of WiMBiZ. she shared her career transition and achievements with style Correspondent, Moji Allen, and how she has successfully grown her Jewelry business that started from her dining table to a showroom with retail outlets in the prime areas of lagos. How would you describe the Cornucopia brand?

The Cornucopia brand aims to make the woman feel elegant everyday, wherever they find themselves, whether they are at the office or at a wedding. our jewelry pieces are deliberately designed to be timeless, versatile, yet very stylish. They are handcrafted into contemporary pieces using precious and semi-precious stones and usually become the pieces our customers find themselves wearing all the time. our pieces are a celebration of womanhood, because we believe the woman should celebrate herself everyday. was becoming a jeweler your first choice after your banking job?

My journey into jewelry design actually started while I was still in banking, not after. as a young career person, I realized that It was important for me to own my time as I wanted to be able to run my home as well as be successful in business. as I explored what would be a good fit for me, I discovered a creative side to me and realized I was good with my hands. I instinctively knew how to put together jewelry components to make pieces that people wanted to wear. I was onto something! It was at this point that I resigned from my banking job, and focused on growing Cornucopia. who are your clientele base?

our clientele base is made up of people (bride, her mom, the professional woman, metrosexual etc) who are stylish and who want high quality jewelry that speak well of them. The lifestyle business is highly competitive, does this affect your business?

yes, it does affect my business but in a positive way. It pushes me to continue to innovate and grow my business so that Cornucopia will not only remain relevant but lead in our areas of focus. Name top three women in the world you would love to create jewelry for?

Michelle obama, Ty bello, becky anderson of Cnn. Has the recession affected your business?

at the beginning I must say it did, as everyone decided to tighten their belts and spending was at an all time low. but since then, we have had 10 the truth is that the only way to be relevant in the international market is to ensure that our products can compete globally in terms of quality. We must also be able to make sure that the fashion industry isn’t all fluff, but substance also. more people buy our products as the buy nigeria movement has gained momentum. we have also had people that would otherwise buy in europe and america become our clients, because finally they realize that what they go looking for in these continents are right here at their doorstep. There’s more fashion/ lifestyle import into Nigeria than export, does this bother you and how do you think we can infiltrate the international market?

It’s definitely a bothersome thing that as a nation we spend so much foreign exchange to import everything including fashion items into the country. It just shows our failure as a nation to bridge the demand gap and also our failure to create systems that enable nigeria to compete effectively in the global market. The truth is that the only way to be relevant in the international market is to ensure that our products can compete globally in terms of quality. we must also be able to make sure that the fashion industry isn’t all fluff, but substance also. our businesses must be structured so that we can scale, meet demand, and so much more. what are the most challenging factors of doing business here in Nigeria?

Some challenging factors include growing capacity and accessing capital. what’s your most prized fashion item? My many pearl necklaces I would say, as I have different types, and sometimes I like to layer several of them when I want my jewelry to make a statement. Is it true a respected gemologists needs to hold respected credentials like (MgA, CgA, or CMA).

I’m not a gemologist, I’m a jewelry designer, but I do know that to be a respected gemologist you must be properly trained and certified with the right credentials. as you know their role is to identify and appraise people’s prized jewelry and gemstones. It seems Cornucopia services male clients, however the larger fraction is women, what’s the appropriate age for a young lady to start investing in precious jewelry?

yes we do have some male clients, especially the metrosexual ones that love to look good and would want to buy bracelets and gemstone necklaces. we also have men that want gifts for their wives and loved ones. however, most of our clients are female. In today’s world there are a lot of inexpensive jewelry that’s being sold that cost almost next to nothing. These pieces would look good at the beginning but the truth is, if you buy cheap, you will get what you pay for and one day you will wake up and realize that you have a jewelry-box full of things you can no longer wear. Therefore I believe it’s important to start to acquire good quality jewelry early on as a young lady. Being born in June, one is curious anout birthstones and do you sell that?

The birthstone for June is pearls and that’s my own birth month as well. That may explain why I always gravitate towards pearls, I find them so beautiful and timeless. even in design, I tend to love incorporating pearls in many of my designs as it tends to lend so much elegance to any jewelry pieces being created and it’s wearer too. Mention three goals Cornucopia would have achieved in the next 5 years?

-To be a household name for jewelry retail in nigeria